Pulp Alley - Drawback/Negative abilities?

[blacksoilbill]

I like your list, Fram. Those are the kinds of things that could be a lot of fun.

[gweirda]

I've experimented with scenario/character-specific characteristics similar to some of those mentioned.

I called one 'Benny' that a particular ally possessed: If they failed a horror check when confronted by one of the supernatural baddies they changed sides and became an agent of the opposing player.

[d phipps]

... As far as new abilities in general, well, don't like the idea of the list drying up forever, that somehow we have all the abilities for PA which will ever be created, full stop, it's over....

Honestly, I don't think I could stop designing/playtesting new abilities even if I wanted. There are about a half dozen or so being considered for the Lemuria campaign.

Also, I am certainly interested on seeing more comments about what sort of negative abilities our players would like to have. So please feel free to share your suggestions.



HAVE FUN

[pistolpete]

Thinking a bit more on this. - there's abilities that allow rerolls for fails/misses so why not have some rerolls for successes;  near-sighted = reroll successful shooting roll, clumsy = reroll the first passed peril.  Character story is then reenforced/supported in game play.

[whomever1]

Forgetful. Has a +1 d to pass a challenge for a plot point, but if the reward is a tip it doesn't count. He forgot.

[Shub-Nullgurath]

I'm not (too) sure how Pulp Alley works, but if you're worried about min-maxing just give all drawbacks a kicker that makes them relevant.

Like Indiana Jones with his Phobia (Snakes) means that there's a high chance that any peril(?) will involve snakes in some way.

[whomever1]

I've painted up a league of Pulp Figures' cultists and cult leaders, except I haven't painted the obvious leader until now--the guy sitting on the throne. But he's an egregiously cool figure--what advantage would make up for not being able to move? The Mastermind perk provides a free sidekick and 6 extra slots in place of a level 4 character--perhaps the "can't move ability" would let him buy a second sidekick? Anyone have any thoughts?

While pondering this one, I also wondered what would be the equivalent positive to make up for a skill that made your leader's corpse be an automatic plot point.

[gary42]

I ran a bunch of Super World and Savage Worlds rpg's in years gone by and they both had disadvantages that could buy a few extra points in character creation.  Min maxing never seemed much of a problem and we quickly found out that the disadvantages were just that and only used them if we really wanted it for the "Character" or just to get a couple of points extra for some ting else we REALLY wanted.

I like the idea and use Animal quite a lot.  Fram has great ideas.  You would have to make the disadvantages something more rule oriented than role playing oriented obviously.  Double dealing sound like a gas and super cinematic!